Friday, July 6, 2007
style sense
The mission is such a zany place to get in touch with the fundamentals of SF street style. I was walking down Valencia with my sister the other day, and suddenly I realized that I had counted about five people wearing vests in a few short blocks.
Remember that this is the mission, so all of the vests were meticulously crafted to look vintage thrift store funk... old tweedy man meets shrunken bustier... natural fibers and color pallette... worn so tight you can see the strain on the buttons... But let's get real, no amount of sexy lines or cinched waists could keep away my automatic association with musty old men.
Musty old men? Second-skin tailoring? This juxtaposition was bugging me out.
But all these people were rockin it! I found myself wondering how all of these people independently saw these miniature retirement home uniforms on a sales rack and thought "Oh man! It's the missing piece of my summer wardrobe!!"
There's something about the attitude with which one wears clothes that is the fundamental base of style. I truly believe that it was the resulting irony of pairing a trimmed down version of your grandad's trusty outergarment with an American Apparrel leotard, handmade vintage beads, designer trouser jeans, sunglasses that are eating your face, and a tote bag with a screen print of cherries on it. That irony is the common denominator; that sense of irony is what all of my nameless neighbors had in mind when plucking their newly-made-to-look-old vest off the rack.
And once I figured out what they were going for, it was like I was hip to some kind of inside joke.
Love, Lauren O.
Remember that this is the mission, so all of the vests were meticulously crafted to look vintage thrift store funk... old tweedy man meets shrunken bustier... natural fibers and color pallette... worn so tight you can see the strain on the buttons... But let's get real, no amount of sexy lines or cinched waists could keep away my automatic association with musty old men.
Musty old men? Second-skin tailoring? This juxtaposition was bugging me out.
But all these people were rockin it! I found myself wondering how all of these people independently saw these miniature retirement home uniforms on a sales rack and thought "Oh man! It's the missing piece of my summer wardrobe!!"
There's something about the attitude with which one wears clothes that is the fundamental base of style. I truly believe that it was the resulting irony of pairing a trimmed down version of your grandad's trusty outergarment with an American Apparrel leotard, handmade vintage beads, designer trouser jeans, sunglasses that are eating your face, and a tote bag with a screen print of cherries on it. That irony is the common denominator; that sense of irony is what all of my nameless neighbors had in mind when plucking their newly-made-to-look-old vest off the rack.
And once I figured out what they were going for, it was like I was hip to some kind of inside joke.
Love, Lauren O.
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